Ishan Uday Scholarship for the North East: ₹80,000 a year, 31 October

Ishan Uday is the University Grants Commission's special scholarship for students of the North Eastern Region. It pays ₹8,000 a month for 10 months in a year — ₹80,000 a year — and runs for the whole of your first degree, which the UGC puts at 3 to 5 years depending on the course. There are 10,000 of them. For 2026-27 applications opened on 16 September 2026 and close on 31 October 2026.

The eight states

• Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura

The Ishan Uday guidelines themselves say only "any State of NER" and do not list the states. The list above is the one the North Eastern Council uses in its own scholarship guidelines on the same portal, where it allocates slots state by state.

Who can apply

• You passed Class 12 or an equivalent examination from a school situated within the North Eastern Region, through a recognised board — the guidelines name CBSE, ICSE and the National Institute of Open Schooling alongside the state boards. Where you went to school matters, not only where you are from
• You hold a valid domicile certificate of any NER state
• You are already admitted in the first year of an undergraduate degree at an eligible institution in India. You are eligible for selection only in the same academic year as your admission
• This is your first degree. If you already hold any degree, you are not eligible
• You are studying through regular, full-time mode. Open, distance, correspondence, private and part-time students are not eligible
• Your parents' annual income is below ₹4.5 lakh. The guidelines are strict about the boundary: a family at ₹4.5 lakh or above is not eligible, so this is below, not up to
• For an integrated or dual-degree programme, the scholarship is paid for the UG component only

Management quota is a flat bar

Students who gain admission through the management quota are not eligible, whatever their marks or income. This is listed as its own condition in the guidelines and it is the one that catches students out, because the admission is otherwise perfectly regular.

Your institution has to be one of these four

• A university, college or institute under Section 2(f) of the UGC Act, 1956, with a valid NAAC accreditation
• A deemed-to-be university under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, with a valid NAAC accreditation
• An institution fully funded by the Central or a State Government and empowered to award degrees
• An Institution of National Importance

The guidelines add a note against the NAAC condition: it applies with effect from the academic year 2025-26. Your institution must also have a valid AISHE code, without which it cannot reach the portal to verify you.

How you are selected, and why your state matters

• State-wise merit — selection is on state-wise merit, not all-India merit. You are ranked against other applicants from your own state, so the cut-off is not the same everywhere
• Subject split — 50% of the slots under each category are earmarked for arts, humanities and social sciences, law and management; the other 50% for science, engineering and technology, medical, technical, agriculture and forestry programmes
• First tie-break — Class 12 marks
• Second tie-break — Class 10 marks
• Third tie-break — age, and the guidelines give it to the older candidate

Documents

• Domicile certificate or permanent resident certificate, from the competent authority
• Income certificate, from the competent authority
• Class 12 and Class 10 certificates and marksheets
• Aadhaar, linked and verified against your bank account
• A KYC-compliant bank account in your own name
• Affidavits, where your institution asks for them

You do not upload any of these on the portal. You give them to your institution, which verifies your online application against them and keeps them for the period of the scholarship plus 2 years.

The bank account is where this goes wrong

The money is paid straight into your bank account and Aadhaar is mandatory as the identifier. The account has to be KYC-compliant and in your own name, not a parent's. The guidelines warn that even a selected student may not be paid if the name, account number or IFSC code does not match. Open the account before you fill the form, not after.

One scholarship at a time

You may hold only one scholarship at a time and must declare that you are not receiving, and will not accept, any other scholarship or monetary benefit. If you already receive one you may still apply, as long as you declare it, but on selection you must give up one of the two.

Dates on the portal

• 16 September 2026 — applications opened
• 31 October 2026 — last date for students to apply
• 15 November 2026 — last date for correcting defective applications, and for your institute to verify you
• 30 November 2026 — last date for district, state and ministry verification

Results are normally declared in November or December of the same year, on the portal and at ugc.ac.in/notices.

Renewal

• The scholarship is renewed each year for the rest of your degree, subject to good conduct and the attendance your institution prescribes
• You apply for renewal on the portal yourself in each later year of study
• If you are not promoted to the next year, you forfeit it
• You may not change your course or your institution. If you do, the scholarship stops from the date of the change

Where to apply

On the National Scholarship Portal, scholarships.gov.in. Under Central Sector Schemes the scheme is listed under UGC as "Ishan Uday Special Scholarship Scheme For NER (Merit Based Scheme)". Complete your One-Time Registration first if you have not already.

Checked on 23 September 2026 against the National Scholarship Portal's scheme board, the UGC's own Ishan Uday page at ugc.gov.in, which was itself last updated on 23 September 2026, and the UGC guidelines for the scheme hosted on the portal. The eight states are named in the North Eastern Council's own scheme guidelines on the same portal. Deadlines move without notice, so confirm on the official portal before you apply.